


How Darcy discovered Superman

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Series: Secret Superwoman [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Gen, Kidfic, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-12
Updated: 2014-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-19 02:03:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1451350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>And how Darcy's parents found out about her powers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Darcy discovered Superman

Darcy was five years old the first time she watched the Superman movie.

She was still young enough to clearly remember her time in foster-care, before her parents had adopted her; but she’d been with her parents long enough that she thought of them as Mom and Dad, and trusted them as implicitly as small children usually trusted their parents. By now she was used to pretending to be like everyone else, even if she slipped up some of the time – but her parents never seemed to notice when she was too fast or too strong. Sure, Darcy broke a lot of stuff by accident, but her parents just said she was clumsy and told her to be more careful, so she was pretty sure she’d gotten away with it.

Darcy knew, in the vague, indistinct way that small children knew things, that she wasn’t originally from Earth, and that she’d had other parents before her current ones, on another planet far away; but that had been a long time ago, and Darcy had learnt to talk like everyone else did by now, instead of in her first language, and the time before Earth was distant and far-away in her memory.

She didn’t think about it often, except in a fleeting and superficial fashion when she was trying to act like everyone else, but seeing the Superman movie was a revelation.

Darcy watched, rapt from her position in the middle of the couch in between her parents, as Superman flew and saved people and did all kinds of impressive things.

“Are you enjoying the movie, Darcy?” Mom asked fondly. Darcy bounced where she sat, turning her head up to beam at her mother.

“He’s like me!” she squeaked excitedly. “He’s from another planet and everything too!”

Dad made an amused noise.

“Are you from another planet, now?”

Darcy nodded energetically, too enthused and delighted to care that he was being condescending, the way that grown-ups so often were.

“Uh-huh! And I’m really strong and really fast and I can fly! You want to see?”

“Sure,” Dad said indulgently. So Darcy bounced off the couch, landed on her feet, flipped up in the air and didn’t come back down. Her head gently bumped the ceiling.

“See!” she crowed. “I’m like Superman too!” She gave a big smile, but her parents weren’t smiling back. They were staring at her, frozen in the couch, and Dad was making strangled noises and Mom had blanched white.

Darcy’s smile faltered, and she slowly started to sink towards the floor.

“That’s okay, right?” she asked her parents. “You’re not going to be scared and send me away like all the others, are you?”

Mom sucked in a loud breath, and her expression was all funny.

“Darcy, baby, come here,” she said, and her voice was unsteady.

Darcy had heard that tone of voice before. She took a step backwards, feeling suddenly frightened.

Mom looked at Dad, who looked just as shaken as Mom did, and then they both looked at Darcy.

“What do you mean, the others sent you away?” Dad said, and his voice was reassuringly calm. Darcy shifted her feet, feeling uncomfortable.

“I didn’t know I was supposed to be like all the other kids,” she blurted, looking at the floor. “And then sometimes I just forgot. And then the grown-ups would have grown-up talks about me, and after that I’d go live with different people. Are you going to send me away, too?”

“Darling, _no_ ,” said Mom. “Of course not. Baby, we were just surprised. Come here so we can give you a hug.”

Darcy looked at her parents, but they didn’t look angry. Hesitantly she walked forward, and Dad scooped her up and dropped her in his lap. Darcy snuggled into his chest and looked up at his face. His expression was serious.

“Darcy, munchkin, did you mean it when you said you from another planet?” he asked. Darcy nodded.

“I used to live there when I was little,” she told Dad. “With my first parents, on the big spaceship. But then something bad happened and they put me in a little spaceship by myself and said they were sending me away to be safe, and I never saw them again. It was really scary because everyone here talks different and I didn’t understand anyone, but it’s okay because I learned how to talk like you do. And then I came to live with you and you were my new Mom and Dad.” She turned her head to look at Mom as well. “You’re really, really not going to send me away?” she asked hopefully.

“Really.” Mom stroked Darcy’s hair. “You’re our little girl, Darcy.”

“That means we get to keep you,” Dad added. He was smiling gently at her.

“But Darcy,” said Mom, “it’s very important that you don’t tell anyone that you’re from another planet, or that you can do things other people can’t. Do you understand?”

Darcy nodded.

“Because then people get scared,” she said knowledgeably.

“That’s right,” Mom agreed. “And when people are scared, sometimes it makes them hurt other people. I don’t want anyone to hurt you because they got scared, okay?”

“Okay,” Darcy said, a little frightened by the conversation. She looked back at the TV screen. “Can we keep watching Superman, now?” she added plaintively.

“Of course we can,” said Dad, glancing at Mom.

Mom and Dad spent the rest of the movie looking at Darcy when they thought she didn’t notice, but that was okay. Darcy watched the rest of the Superman movie until she was really sleepy, but managed to stay awake until the movie finished, determined to watch it through to the end.

She was fuzzily aware of Dad lifting her up and saying something about bed time.

“I’m gonna be Superman when I grow up,” she murmured into his chest. “Gonna save people an’ everything.”

Dad just held her close, and didn’t say a thing.

**Author's Note:**

> So I tried to write more about Darcy's childhood besides this, except then it turned into a kinda dark angry thing about how Darcy was bullied for being different and broke somebody's nose and then realised that she could have killed the other kid if she hadn't been more careful, so I'm not going to post that. It doesn't really fit the tone of this series.
> 
> Is there anything more in this verse that people *would* like to see me post, if I have inspiration?


End file.
